It’s mostly about country, but it’s also about clothes, and this could be a problem.
With the announcement that Fred Couples and Lee Janzen had been added to the U.S. Ryder Cup squad, the task now is to ship the 12 members of America’s team their official garments for next month’s haberdashery show against Europe.
A simple overnight envelope won’t suffice. Golfers require uniforms not only for the matches, but for dining, pep rallies, meetings with accountants, card games, maybe even slumber. Wives or girlfriends receive appropriate attire, too, and all costumes must fit perfectly before the entourage arrives at the Valderrama club in Sotogrande, Spain.
“We can’t use UPS, or our guys will show up in jeans,” Christy Kite said Monday morning, before a tentative settlement was reached.
She is the wife of Tom, the U.S. captain who dwells on more pressing global issues, such as reacquiring the Ryder Cup after it was surrendered in disgrace two Septembers ago at Rochester, N.Y.
Tom Kite, among the most effective performers in the history of this international competition, resisted a certain temptation to tap himself on the back. The captain’s job is daunting. Besides, these millionaires are swinging for pride and a lousy $5,000 each in expense money. At those prices, our patriots in pleats deserve Kite’s doting attention.
Kite also passed on selecting a hardened warrior as a wild card. Tom Watson and Hale Irwin were out there, but so was Curtis Strange in 1995. He didn’t produce and Capt. Lanny Wadkins still hasn’t heard the end of it. As if Strange were the only Yankee to miss an important putt in three days.
Janzen, 32, was ready and waiting then and vexed about being shunned. This time, Janzen took no chances. He played with Kite in Sunday’s final round of the PGA Championship and shot 69 to finish fourth. Janzen said being named to the team felt almost like winning a tournament, a feat he hasn’t accomplished since the week after Wadkins didn’t call.
Still, Janzen is a former U.S. Open champion, just as Couples has a Masters jacket in his closet. Couples, who finished with rounds of 73-75 at Winged Foot, wound up 17th on the Ryder Cup points list. Nobody on the U.S. squad underwhelmed that. But Freddie has been there and he’s a great fellow with whom to bond. Everybody likes Freddie, also a captain’s choice in 1995.
“When he’s on,” Kite said, “he’s the best we have.”
One can’t quibble with Kite’s picks, only the system. Had he not been appointed captain, he would have been a nice veteran presence inside the ropes. Perhaps the PGA of America should have waited to honor him with the gold clipboard.
The flip side of the argument is valid, though. Kite, 47, still plays and thus he can relate to his lads, four of whom have no Ryder Cup experience: Tiger Woods, Justin Leonard, Jim Furyk and Scott Hoch.
“We’re young and we’re good,” Kite said, sounding very contemporary. “I love this team.”
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Seve Ballesteros, Kite’s counterpart, has two weeks to settle on Europe’s roster. Nick Faldo, legend, is hitting the ball sideways. Jose-Maria Olazabal, an icon in Spain, is 12th in the point parade. And Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik, based in Florida, is playing better than either.
Ballesteros also gets only two picks to build a group that can vanquish a hungry bunch of Americans bent on revenge, led by the incomparable Woods, fighting for the flag on an enemy course the Europeans regularly use on their tour.
“It should be fun,” Tom Kite said. “That’s when you play your best golf, anyway. When it’s fun.”
If only our heroes can dress for the occasion.